Annotation:Pretty Polly (6)

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PRETTY POLLY [6]. AKA and see "Pretty Poll," "Pretty Polly Say," "Pretty Parrot Say." English, Air and Triple Hornpipe (3/2 time). A Minor (Doyle): G Minor (Gay). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The song, attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller, was issued as a broadsheet ballad of c. 1706 and can be heard as the vehicle for songs in several early 18th century ballad operas (according to Pulver, 1923). The song appears under the alternate title "Pretty Parrot, Say" in John Gay's (1685-1732) The Beggar's Opera (1729, Air XIV). The ballad was said to have been translated from the French, and Kidson (1922) states it is on early half-sheet music. See note for "annotation:Pretty Poll" for more).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Doyle (Plain Brown Tune Book), 1997; p. 34. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 54 (as "Pretty Parrot, Say" from the Beggar's Opera).

Recorded sources:

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